Playa Blanca Holidays

Playa Blanca's one of Lanzarote's biggest and best-loved resorts, and mixes holiday staples with a quiet air of sophistication. The smart marina covers cocktails, upscale dining and boutiques, while the promenade's lined with top-drawer seafood places. At the other end of the scale, lively karaoke and disco bars up the tempo in nearby shopping centres. The whole picture's crowned by a trio of beaches and a hilly volcanic backdrop.

Forget seeing double – Playa Blanca's got three strips of sand vying for your attention. The main stretch is a Blue Flag winner, and comes with a well-stocked promenade over its shoulder, so you’ve got lots of eating and drinking places at hand. From here, it’s only a few minutes’ walk to the quieter Playa Flamingo, where locals fish for octopus and barracuda. And about the same distance the other way takes you to Playa Dorada, another Blue Flag special, which pulls out all the stops on the watersports front.

Take a 15-minute drive, and you'll reach the wave-battered cliffs of Los Hervideros. It's like a Canarian version of Giant’s Causeway, with blowholes in the cliffs that have been created by the sheer power of the surf. You can get up close on walkways designed by the late architect Cesar Manrique. You’ll find his stamp all over the island, including his old house – where rooms are made out of lava bubbles – just up the coast at Costa Teguise.